Transgender Name Issue: Brownsburg Teacher Speaks Out

A Brownsburg teacher was forced to resign from his position after refusing to call a transgender student by their new name. Instead, he elected to call each student by their last name, so he could avoid the controversy. Brownsburg High School stepped in and said teachers are required to call students by their preferred names. The teacher felt that by acknowledging the transgender student’s new name, he was “encouraging a dangerous lifestyle.”

The teacher, John Kluge, joins the Hammer and Nigel Show. He says he had a prior agreement with the school administration where he was allowed to call students by their last name. However, the school later came back and told John that he was now required to call students by their first name.

“The administration did not want to allow me to address my students the same way and coach or gym teacher would address their students- by last name only. That’s what we agreed to.”

The school had a meeting with John where they told him he needed to call students by their first name, or he would be fired. He was then told that he could hand in a conditional resignation letter that would not be submitted to the superintendent, while also saying John would be paid over the summer should he hand in a conditional resignation letter.

After handing in the conditional resignation, John changed his mind and decided to withdraw his resignation letter. However, John claims the school went forward with the resignation, despite his appeal.